Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX) Earnings Beat Estimates

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE:FCX) released its earnings report for the three months ended June 30 this morning before the market opened. The company showed earnings per share of $0.49 for the three month period on revenue of $4.29 billion. Shares in Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE:FCX) closed at $29.15 on Monday’s market.

Before earnings numbers were released analysts were looking for earning of 39 cents per share for the three months period. Consensus revenue estimates for the quarter came to $4.39 billion. In the same three months of 2012, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE:FCX) earned 80 cents per share on revenue totaling $4.5 billion.

Freeport-McMoRan gold collapse

The big problem facing Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE:FCX) in the first half of 2013 was the turbulence in the gold market. So far this year shares in the company have fallen by more than 14 percent, with the biggest losses mirroring those of the price of gold in April. 2013 estimates for the company’s earnings have fallen as a result.

Investors are sure to be nervous about the future of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE:FCX) as questions still abound about the future of gold, one of the company’s most important markets. The company is becoming an energy producer right now, and investors are likely worried about the company’s ability to keep so many balls in the air in so many difficult markets.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE:FCX) has a difficult time ahead of it. The commodities markets are not looking a good as they did a year ago, and the company has suffered from changes all around that arena. Whether or not investors are willing to be on the company, which trades at less than 10 times 2012 earnings, is a difficult choice. Nothing seems assured for the expanding energy and metals company.